


Training Exercises

by sheron



Series: Reconstruction [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Injury, POV Jack Thompson, Peggy Carter & Jack Thompson Friendship, Post-Season/Series 02, Post-Season/Series 02 Finale, Recovery, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6181354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheron/pseuds/sheron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stuck in L.A. while he recovers, Jack helps Peggy and Daniel train new recruits for Daniel's understaffed West Coast office. But the trainers have a few things to learn about being a team, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to [Sholio](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio) for cheering me on to write this and helping work out the kinks. This story wouldn't exist without her support and the conversations we had about Jack.

It was difficult to feel gloomy under the glare of the hot Californian sun, no matter how much Jack tried to give it a fair shot.

Ever since he woke up in the LA hospital room to the sight of Carter and Sousa sucking face in a single chair by the bedside ― a sight that would make a stronger man need painkillers ― Jack privately thought he had it rather well, under the circumstances. For one, he hadn't expected to wake up at all.

He'd been groggy and disoriented, and at first he'd been sure the two of them were a shrub, one of those bizarre southern palm trees, hair and limbs everywhere. Peggy and Daniel made a lot of noise when they discovered he was awake. A lot of comments about him tricking his way into staying in LA a while longer, jokes about how they were onto him that didn't quite manage to cover the tremble in Peggy's voice, the roughness in Daniel's. An inconspicuous shrub would have been infinitely more preferable. 

He had tried to hold on to that irritation all through his convalescence, letting them know he preferred quiet to their jabbering gossip of all the cases they were solving where they could use his help, pushing Daniel's helpful hands away the first time the doctors would let him stand up and take two shaky steps forward. All in vain. It had been hard to use a walking stick in front of Daniel's knowing eyes, but it was reassuring, too.

Two months since, early one morning when Jack was hiding out in Peggy's office, the ebony wood cane he still occasionally required was placed against her desk. Even off Active Duty as he was, Jack could get a desk somewhere on the floor, but Peggy now had an actual office thanks to Daniel converting an unused interrogation room into one for her. Jack leaned back against the soft brown leather chair and leafed through one of her confidential reports.

They stumbled in, curved in to each other, giggling, her hand wrapped around his waist, his around her shoulders, oblivious for a long moment before they saw him there.

"Jack!" They both said, in that annoying way really close couples had, in unison.

He flapped the fingers of his right hand up and down, hi. Turned back to the folder in his hand, frowning. "Weren't they using the factory for something important? Before you let it get blown up, I mean."

"Give me that," Peggy snatched the reports from his willing hands, lips pursed at the smirk curving over his own. "That's classified."

"How did you get in here?" Daniel was asking, looking around uncomfortably. They were alone on the floor and he couldn't take anyone to task except Jack. "The office is locked after hours."

Jack grinned at his demanding tone. Gone were the days when these two hovered over him like hens with a new chick. He could still get a few things by them on account of his injury ( and Peggy was only too happy to rag at him for taking advantage of their good will once she sussed it out) but overall they treated him the same as before. Jack's grin slipped a little. These two were the only people in the world who did, and even they hid things from him.

He righted his expression, and said, with mock innocence. "Harper let me in when I told him it was important."

"It was _important_?" Daniel's indignation was too much, Jack snorted. 

"I'm an important person." Daniel's glare bounced off Jack's feeling of self-satisfaction.

Peggy was already problem solving, fingers pressed to her forehead. "We really need to do something about security around the office. Anyone could have walked in."

"Yeah, Chief," Jack put in. " _Anyone_ could have walked in."

Daniel leaned heavily on his crutch. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I was bored." Lord, these two had absolutely no idea how much he meant those words. 'Climbing the walls'-kind of meant it. He hadn't taken time off work since he'd started at the SSR, and the unwelcome vacation didn't agree with him. Especially since the man who'd tried to kill him was still at large. "I thought to myself, what trouble has my favourite intrepid duo gotten into since I saw you last." He slid his eyes to the folder still clutched in Peggy's hands. "Destroying public property again?"

"There was a gas valve." Peggy's eyes slid guiltily to the side, met Daniel's and quickly cut away again. "One of the recent recruits decided to have a smoke."

Jack contained his chuckle. Laughing had been something he had trained himself out of in the month he had been laying in the hospital, the pain in his chest had been too much then. Remarkable, how many chest muscles were involved in such a simple act. It was easier to laugh now, but he refrained as much as possible out of habit.

"When are you gonna train your guys, Sousa? It's getting embarrassing." Jack made a careful motion to climb out of the chair. As long as he tightened the muscles of his stomach and straightened his shoulders beforehand, he had the same range of motion as before. Now that he's been found out he had other places to be. Besides he had gotten what he came here for. Rose was due for her morning shift in a bit and she always knew all the latest gossip around this place. Also, home-baked goods were involved. Jack picked up his cane by the staff, with a practiced motion meant to look careless, and walked towards the door. Mostly the cane was around for insurance, and he freely admitted to himself that even when he might have needed its support he preferred to avoid actually using it. He thought of it as pushing himself towards recovery and he had always been very good with pain management.

Peggy barely leaned back to let him pass, the silk of her green skirt brushing against his trouser leg. She had given him that quick all encompassing glance-over and didn't comment, looking thoughtful and somewhat far-away.

Daniel was sighing as he settled against Peggy's desk. "I'm too busy cleaning up the bureaucratic mess created by the new recruits to have time to actually train them. If I could convince some of the old guard from New York to move here I could delegate. As it is, I'm swamped."

"You'll never get the New York brass to reassign someone," Peggy said sourly. "The last two SSR Agents who visited LA for a short trip ended up staying permanently."

Jack lifted his eyebrows. "You know more than me, Carter?"

Her fluster only showed in the slightly heightened color of her cheeks, otherwise she recovered with aplomb. "The decision is of course yours to make, but you do have a place here. At least until you're completely recovered. The weather has been dreadful on the East Coast."

"I _am_ completely recovered," Jack insisted, waving the cane around. 

"You know if you go back to New York, they'll just stick you with desk duty," Daniel said, smiling at him like a cat that swallowed the canary. He knew that Jack was wavering in his determination to get back to his original post in New York. They'd had plenty of phone talks about that very issue but no matter how they hashed it out, Daniel was still Chief of the West Coast SSR and Jack chafed at the thought of working under him. It would be a demotion. He'd screwed up, but he hadn't screwed up that bad.

"Are you saying you have something better for me to do here?" Jack said it off-handedly, prepared to leave when the inevitable guilt crossed Daniel's expression.

Peggy suddenly stood up ram-rod straight. Both Daniel and Jack turned to her, saying in a chorus, "What?"

"I just had a wonderful idea."  


 

* * *

 

"This was a terrible idea," Jack was saying shortly. He couldn't remember why he had agreed to this unofficial work ― the unending boredom of the four walls of his room probably had something to do with it ― but right now that decision seemed as illogical as their current situation. He could have been somewhere sipping bourbon, but instead he was here, working with these two on how to get more young people adjusted to the illustrious career at the SSR.

At first, Peggy had had a sheet of paper stapled to her office wall, on which three words were written: honorable, brave, clever. The top three attributes they looked for in a new recruit. At the start of the meeting she'd said it was obvious what the top-most attribute of a successful SSR agent was; Daniel and Jack had agreed. The three of them had said their top pick at the same time, and then stared at each other in puzzlement because everyone's choice was different. Jack's top choice had been 'brave'. In the end, Peggy wrote all three characteristics down and they started to trouble shoot what kind of training would be appropriate to encourage those traits and weed out the chaff.

The problem was, the recruits that had been assigned to the West Coast branch had wildly different experiences. There were the academics, who'd never seen the outside of a lab. The soldiers who'd just gone through their military training as the war ended, and never saw any action. The administrative staff was actually in the better shape than any of the other groups, since many of them were veterans who had sustained injuries preventing them from working in the field. They were the group that had already sacrificed much for their country, and Jack respected their choice to serve in whatever way they could. Plus, it didn't hurt that in Chief Sousa they found an outspoken voice for the cause of disabled veterans. Jack would have bet that leadership had had a lot to do with who'd picked to be assigned to this branch of the SSR.

Everyone who joined had gone through some minimal training, but a few months in a boot camp was no substitute for real experience. Peggy's recent string of unfortunate accidents while out in the field supported that conclusion. As one of the most seasoned members of the SSR, she'd taken on much of the leadership responsibilities as soon as her reassignment request was granted. But not even Peggy could do everyone's job for them, she had to delegate and rely on her teammates to think for themselves. With teams as green as grass, each operation was an accident waiting to happen.

The sheet of paper on Peggy's wall stayed empty except for the three words. They didn't actually have a plan. The only thing they had agreed on from the beginning was to split everyone up in to mixed teams of more than two and less than six people. Four seemed ideal. A scientist or two, backed by a couple of beefy military men. After that decision was made, they'd hit a bit of a brick wall. 

In the end, they took a lunch break at the cafe down the street from the office to hash things out into a semblance of a plan. After an adequate meal ― Jack still detested Californian food after more than two months of forced acclimatization ― they threw some more ideas around, but the lack of progress was staggering.

"This all sounds more and more like simple boot camp to me," he said. "Why not just send them off for another session at one of the academies and be done with it?"

"Because the point isn't how each of them can handle the individual duties assigned to them. They need to work together as a team. No SSR agent works alone." Daniel glanced at Peggy, and they had a moment of silent communication. Jack felt the moment shift into something else as the lovey-dovey expression came into Daniel's eyes and Peggy wasn't doing much better. With visible effort, they tore their eyes away from each other and Daniel stared straight ahead, having visibly lost his train of thought. Jack had a feeling he was in for more of the same from these two lovebirds for some time yet.

"Besides, more than physical preparation is needed." Peggy tapped the desk with a nervous gesture as she gathered herself, not looking away from Jack's amused stare. "The mental component, how they think of the situation and their teammates. That should be the bigger focus."

"That's a good idea." Jack nodded. "We wouldn't want them to do something crazy like pursue investigations on their own, in secret."

Peggy looked up and stared at Jack carefully. "You saw the report."

"You mean the one about Agent Blackwell's convenient suicide in his jail cell?" Jack casually sipped at his water with lemon. "Yeah, I saw the report." When he set the glass down at the table, it clanged hard. "Do you think he was just so scared of facing his trial he paid off a guard to slip him the knife?"

Peggy winced and looked away for a moment.

"We had a reason to hold back this information," Daniel tried. Jack gripped the napkin in his hand, willing himself to remain calm. "We have people on the case, investigating the breach of security―"

"Did your investigation yield any names? Such as perhaps if the person who took care of Blackwell is the same as the one who came after me?"

"We don't know," Peggy admitted.

"Then maybe you don't have enough resources on the job," Jack clenched the cloth in his hand so hard, his hand began to ache. That pain allowed him keep himself controlled. "I have a few hours free in my days while I'm off Active Duty. I could look into it for you."

"I couldn't ask you to do that," Daniel said. "You were still in the hospital when they got to Vega." Jack flinched. "We had increased the security on Blackwell―" Daniel studied him. "You didn't know about Vega."

"It wasn't in the report." Jack looked between Daniel and Peggy carefully. "So Vega's dead?"

"Yes. Poison." Peggy's answers were clipped.

Jack looked down at the table. His smile was self-deprecating, "Guess I shouldn't have promised the guy he'd be safe if only he talked." 

That wrung out another guilty look from Peggy. Jack was glad for it. He was still angry about being kept out of the loop.

"What about the other guys Vernon had in his back pocket?"

Peggy sounded sour admitting, "Most of the people Vega gave us have been processed and released."

"You are kidding me!"

Daniel shook his head. "Without his testimony and with Vernon Masters' disappearance, there isn't much to put together cases against them. The central district judge dismissed them."

"He's also in the Arena Club's back-pocket," Peggy put in helpfully.

"Then we go after the judge!" Jack said, a bit too loudly because a few civilians at the cafe turned to glance at them. Peggy gave him a cautioning glare, and he settled down, nodding apology. He understood the need for discretion, even if the maddening thoughts of this rot permeating the very organizations he had dedicated his life to made it difficult to act normal. He smiled at the curious heads turned their way, until the other patrons of the cafe settled down and looked back to their own meals.

"We shouldn't talk about this here," Peggy said, glancing around in the sun, putting on her large red sunglasses to completely obscure her eyes. "You've made your point. We shouldn't have kept the progress of this investigation from you. We'll talk about this somewhere more private." She tapped the table with polished red nails. "Meanwhile, we have a training program to design. Shall we?"

The motivation to avoid the more difficult subjects worked wonders. When they got right down to it, it was just a matter of splitting up the work.  
Daniel carved out a couple of hours every day to drill the teams on weapons firing, map and compass use. All the stuff they should have covered in basic, but not everyone had been through that, and all three of them agreed that getting every teammate on the same page was important. Jack knew Daniel paid for those hours he took to train the recruits with overtime. It seemed whenever he phoned Jack now it was out of the office, working as late as 8 or 9 every single day. Jack wondered how Peggy was handling the thirteen-fourteen hour shifts, with a three-months old relationship on their hands. Whatever, it was working for them. They were nauseatingly cute together whenever Jack was subjected to their combined presence.

Peggy had mostly taken over the physical training sessions, running exercises and swimming lessons. (Having a woman in a one-piece swimsuit oversee that part of the training regiment had driven Jack to several comments on the extra challenge she presented by being such a tormenting instructor, with many an eye-roll from Peggy for his trouble. To their credit, the men hadn't done more than blink and get on with it. Jack wasn't sure that a few years ago, in their place, he would have done nearly as well. Carter cut a distracting figure.)

She'd taken a lot of heat from the scientists who didn't see how the sit-ups, push-ups, lifting or dragging sandbags, and the morning six kilometer runs would help them do their jobs. Then Harper had showed them the marks on his back from where hot pieces of metal had burned through his clothing because he hadn't been able to run fast enough from an enemy lab explosion, and the complaints mostly subsided. Jack joined her on the training runs more often then not for his own benefit. Now that he was most of the way back to normal fitness, he used the new SSR training regiment for his own rehabilitation. He'd done a lot of body work on his own in the months since he'd been released from the hospital to be back to fighting fit and it paid off when he was able to keep up with Peggy more and more often as days flew by.

Jack was in charge of the last set of tests that the teams had to pass in order to be declared fit ready. He had to design the obstacle course and the final field test which mimicked a real mission. Looking after the course construction meant many hours out in the desert outside the city, where Howard Stark had generously allowed the use of his now-defunct movie set. Jarvis assisted with acquiring the necessary props and part of Peggy's fitness routine was making the teams run out to the obstacle course and practice there while she and Jack went over the details. A couple of trucks would then take them all back to the city and the SSR office, all before nine when most businesses opened up. Slave-driver was a common term overheard behind Peggy's back, but she didn't seem to care and so Jack didn't discourage it.

All three of them were suddenly so busy they didn't have time to discuss Vega and Blackwell that day, or for a while after. Jack, after a sleepless night of turning it over in his head put it on the back-burner. They didn't have any serious leads, and he had to focus on getting fit for active duty. His father had called again, to check on his ongoing recovery. He'd offered to come visit Jack, and Jack refused, like he had done every other time. Seeing Vernon Master's buddy when he saw his father's face wasn't something he was ready for, not yet.

 

* * *

 

The obstacle courses were ready in another couple of weeks and the teams added an extra half-hour to their daily regiment through dealing with everything Jack had thought to throw at them. The tubes, the sets of high walls they were meant to scale and the ladders for rappelling down, all designed to complement the training Peggy had been putting them through to prepare the recruits for this.

Jack had mostly hashed out the final test in several closed meetings with Daniel and Peggy. They discussed their progress now, while the latest team of four took on the obstacle course in front of them.

The sun was high in the desert and Jack squinted against it.

Pearson and Martinez were competing for who would get to the top of the wall first. Pearson lacked the upper body strength that Martinez had, but they were both from the military background. The two scientists on their team were lagging far behind, still getting past the low tubes. Jack frowned. The last man, Wells, had a runner's legs, he was small and hyper, but stuck behind Ashton, a brown-noser with no sense of balance and little interest in the exercise.

"You see it, don't you."

"Yeah," Peggy said at Jack's side, squinting against the sun herself. 

"I thought they got on together." Daniel observed, leaning against his crutch. "They have lunch at the cafe down the street nearly every day." 

"Yeah, I had a good feeling about these four." Jack watched with disappointment as Martinez finally won the lead, secured his own harness and plummeted to the ground leaving Pearson in the dust.

"First impressions can be misleading, you know that."

Jack cut a side-ways glance at Peggy, but she wasn't looking at him.

"Sure they might like each others personalities and have the same taste in lunch food, but that won't make them rely on each other in the heat of the moment," Daniel said. It was ninety degrees in the shade, but that wasn't the kind of heat Daniel was talking about.

Pearson and Martinez were heading their way, sweaty and smug, but their smiles dwindled faced with the frowns on the faces of the three senior SSR agents. Ashton and Wells brought up the rear. When all four of them were finally standing in a row in front of them, Daniel stepped forward.

"Sloppy work." Harsh words from someone normally soft-spoken. The recruits froze with fixed expressions on their faces, a slight belligerence sliding into each of their postures.

"Sir?" That was Pearson, facing straight ahead.

"Your performance as a team was abysmal. In a real combat situation, these kind of antics could result in failed mission objective or loss of life."

"With all due respect, may I hear your suggestions for improvement?" That was Ashton, and he didn't sound like he thought a lot of respect was due. For a scientist, Jack thought, he was pretty stupid. The other three shuffled but you could tell they were tired from the exertion and didn't see the problem. Jack himself had the prickling beginnings of a headache, and not eating much breakfast that morning was beginning to make his body pay.

"You could work together," Peggy said sharply.

Jack could see the men evaluating her, could see the wheels in their heads turning. These men didn't care about some speech about the power of friendship. They wanted to know who the leaders were who would be sending them into the life-and-death situation. You could see them take in a crippled man and a young woman and make a dozen assumptions about them, subconsciously dismissing the message in their words as soon as it left their mouths. Jack could have stepped in, thrown his weight around. The men looked up to him. He looked the part and he had the Navy cross and a few war stories behind his back, propping him up. A new red scar on the right side of his chest just under the collar of the crisp white shirt, from when he'd last seen action. Jack could have made himself heard. He held back.

If being the focus of their attention made Peggy nervous, she didn't show it.

Peggy was a natural. She looked at you, and she saw how you ticked and what your strengths and weaknesses were. It scared Jack sometimes because he felt more transparent with her than anyone he'd met, and he was not easy to read. She'd gotten him to admit some pretty powerful things over just a year of working together. That mission was the turning point of how he saw her; cornerstone to their ability to work together. She'd saved his life when there'd been no benefit to her, and the knowledge was always there in the back of his head, telling him to trust her just a little bit more than he would otherwise. And even though Jack would always wonder if one day she'd had enough and the truth of what he'd done would be used for another greater cause Peggy championed, there was a kind of freedom in that, too. A freedom in having another person know him more fully than anyone else alive. Peggy was the only person in the world who knew him that well.

He didn't know if he could trust his own knowledge of her. After all, he had discovered himself to be an appalling judge of character. Just ask Uncle Vernon. Oh never mind that, nobody has laid eyes on him since Jack had left him in that warehouse for Whitney Frost to exterminate. Jack swallowed against the grim thoughts that intruded on him and wrenched his focus back on the task at hand.

"I meant what I said." Peggy brushed a curl of dark hair off the side of her face, squinting her eyes against the blazing sun. "By working together, you could complete this course much faster. No SSR Agent works alone."

"Pardon me, ma'am." It was Pearson again, sweat rolling down his neck as he swallowed before continuing. "The tubes are too low for two people to go through at once. And if you get all of us bunched up below the wall, it'll take twice as long for each of us to get through that part."

"Wrong," Peggy said. "The course is meant to test your working with a partner."

"I'd like to see you try it," Ashton muttered just audible enough to be heard.

He glanced up, shamefaced when he realized everyone had heard.

For a moment, the tableau was silent as the rough desert wind blew through the field, ruffling their hair. 

Jack felt it when Peggy looked at him.

"Are you up for it?"

"Sure," he said lazily. Even as the words left his mouth, his brain kicked in. It was so hot, it really had taken him an extra second to remember that he wasn't quite his old self, that the only possible answer to Peggy's question was "Absolutely not." He wasn't going to make it through the course, and as with most things in his life, there would be no second chances when it came to the respect these people gave him. But she couldn't do the course with Daniel, no matter how fit the man was other than his mangled leg.

Peggy turned and put a hand on his arm. "Are you sure?"

Jack knew what she was asking him. They had to make this run look perfect. Even if he was not at his best ― and let's face it, he hadn't been ever since he got shot ― there would be no excuse if he slowed them down after taking up the challenge.

"Let's do this."

Peggy's deep penetrating stare met his eyes, and after a moment she nodded.

They changed into more appropriate clothing in the same room, with their backs to each other. Gone were the days when he would have tried to embarrass her for changing in the same room as the guys. Their movements were fast, professional as they clothed themselves in a light version of tactical gear, no firearms, no holsters or bullet proof vests. Jack felt his adrenaline rising. He'd designed the obstacle course, he knew it like the back of his hand. The challenge of a little competition with Carter sang sweetly to him now. 

By the time he turned around, she was ready. Daniel met them outside, with a serious look on his face, most of it reserved for his observation of Jack. He knew Peggy would handle herself, Jack was the unknown quantity.

Jack gave Daniel a short nod and checked that the four trainees had a good line of sight.

"Shall we," Peggy said beside him, and Jack started running.

He heard "Bloody hell," behind him and felt a wild gasp of a laugh slip through his lips at the outrage in her voice. He heard her boots against the dusty ground as she sprinted after him, steps lighter than his own and gaining fast. By the time they were at the entrance to the first tube, Peggy was a step ahead. He let her go in first, dropping down and scrambling on hands and knees through the concrete tube right behind her. At the entrance, Peggy turned around and reached for him with a hand, dirty palm gripping one of his and practically yanking him out on the other side. Using their momentum, they surged forward towards the long cargo net rising up ahead, no longer having to keep to single-file for this part of the course.

The net's angle was low, which made it more difficult to climb than if it had been vertical, and it was prone to swaying quite a bit as they tried to make progress rather than use up all their strength to cling to the thick ropes. Jack was grateful for the daily workouts he'd been doing because this wasn't kids stuff. Every muscle in his body was suddenly filled with tension, the need to keep his balance making him grit his teeth against the jiggling of the ropes as Peggy also struggled alongside him. She was half-a-head shorter than him and had less upper body strength, but she made up for it with the efficiency of her moves, her steps up the rope as certain as if she was walking up a wooden ladder.

As the net swayed from her steps, Jack suddenly had to close his eyes against unexpected dizziness. He'd done hundreds of such courses before and it didn't take him long to realize how out of shape he was compared to what he was used to experiencing at this point in the exercise. He forced himself to look up, to move, swallowing thickly. At the top, Peggy was already half-way through fastening her harness. She looked back at him, checking his progress and their eyes caught. Somehow reading his expression perfectly, she quickly unwound the harness meant for him, and by the time he was at the top, her sure hands were already going around his torso, fasting the harness around him. Jack took the moment to catch his breath gratefully. He felt a bit like he was flying, the adrenaline pumping through his blood, making him forget the pains and aches in his body.

"Alright?" she said briskly, eyes evaluating. 

He nodded, and they rappelled down. Jack let his experience guide him. His body remembered how to crouch when he hit the ground at speed, even as the shock reverberated through his bones. He might have swayed, because Carter's hand settled against his shoulder, pushing him upright. Her eyes flashed in rebuke as the realization that he shouldn't have been doing this settled and made her lips tighten in anger.

" _Jack_ ," she said. Her tone was a mix of admonishment and concern. His hands shook on the fastenings of his harness, and suddenly he felt her hands over his, cooler than he'd expected, unfastening the straps for him. 

He looked up in her face, feeling an eerie calm settle over him as he studied the frown of concentration knitting her brows. It was just like in the mission in Russia, her taking control of the situation when he had most needed her. It had been like that when he'd woken up at the hospital again and again immediately after the surgery, thoughts muddied up, only to hear a woman's voice with a British accent tell him to calm down it would be alright. He felt the sudden and absolute certainty that she wouldn't let him down, she'd get him through it all somehow. 

Jack knew that he would do everything in his power to reach the end of this course with her. He had to get stronger, if he was to face what was coming. When she looked up, he pulled a grin to his lips. "Don't worry, I'll make it."

Carter's eyes flashed with understanding and they set off again, leaving the harnesses swaying behind them. He'd seen the flush on her face and knew she felt the adrenaline too, relished the rush of pushing herself to the limit. She wouldn't have liked to give up now, the sweetness of the finish-line within sight.

They ran to one of the walls. Jack crouched and clasped his hands on his knee. Peggy put her foot in the makeshift harness and Jack pushed her up even as she lunged at one of the higher handles, quickly pulling herself up to sit with a leg on each side of the wall. He climbed after her using the handles, and Peggy tugged him up by the arm as soon as he was within reach. He felt his muscles flexing as they made their way down, jumping most of the way and rolling on impact. Jack choked on the dust thrown up by their movements, coughing and feeling his chest seize. The pain cut through the adrenaline somewhat, but he pushed it aside, lunging forward to the next wall. Again they scaled it with his clasped hands giving her momentum. She felt heavier this time and he couldn't push her up as high, but she made do, pushing off with one of her feet to reach the top. Her reaching for him felt almost automatic now as they pushed and pulled each other through every obstacle. The sense of camaraderie was at an all time high as they hit the ground together and ran forward.

Next came a set of concrete tubes laying perpendicular to their path. This time it was Peggy who slammed her clasped hands under his foot, pushing him a few feet up in the air so he jumped over to the other side. Immediately turning around, he reached across for her, with his arms locked under her armpits yanking her up. She swung her legs to the side and easily made it across to the other end where he set her down beside him.

They went for the two parallel long-boards, running up and across them without pausing to let hesitation unbalance them. Running like this made the blood pound in Jack's ears, the mad rush half-excitement, half-dread.

Side by side, they reached the last wall. Finish line lay on the other end. Jack set one hand against the wooden length of the wall, expelling a breath and centering himself for one last push. Then he turned to Peggy decisively, and they fell into motions like they'd been doing it all their lives. He slammed her upwards giving her momentum, and she heaved him over at the top. The two swings carried them down, whistling through the air until they bounced off the thick mats at the bottom, lying on their backs.

For a moment, the world went red in front of Jack's eyes as all the blood rushed through his head. Then he felt Carter's arm on his, yanking him up and he used the remainder of his strength to make the few stumbling steps across the white line drawn on the other end of the mats.

For a moment he couldn't believe he'd made it. At his side, Peggy let out a relieved laugh. Her hand patted his arm and he had the most absurd impulse to hug her and lift her into the air. It was just as well that he could barely stand on his own two feet, because the urge was decidedly unlike him.

Still, Jack couldn't quite quash the answering grin as he glanced at her. For another moment, Peggy's eyes were soft, before her expression straightened into implacability and she went over to the new recruits. Then she basically told them off for ignoring their teammates during the exercises, explaining how the two of them had shaved off time here and there by cooperating with each other instead of indulging in pure selfishness. They clamored for attention around her, their eyes lit up with a new found respect and curiosity.

Daniel walked over to Jack. He looked about ready to hand him an elbow to lean against, so Jack let his eyes go unfocused staring into the distance, pretending not to notice. After a moment, Daniel just settled heavily against his crutch, a small amused twist to his lips.

"Ready to head back?" he said.

"Sure," Jack said. After a moment he added, in sotto, "In a moment, my legs will realize I meant that." Daniel handed him a small canteen of water and Jack drank from it gratefully, in small sips. His chest hurt with a strange ache, but he didn't feel like he'd torn anything so he was just going to keep watch of it. Too tired to dissemble, he knew in his heart that Peggy's respect was worth no small amount of pain.

After a long moment when he felt like he wouldn't face-plant the moment he took a step, the two of them ambled at a leisurely pace towards the warehouse with water and the changing rooms. For once it was Daniel matching Jack's pace. Peggy was still talking to the recruits. Jack hoped she was rubbing their noses into how much better the two of them had done.

Inside the building, Jack splashed water on a towel and ran it across his face and neck, reveling in the coolness. Daniel must have decided he was going to live, because he settled against the wall near the door. The silence between them seemed comfortable, and Jack felt at peace. The physical exertion had chased away all the crowding thoughts in his head.

"Look, we both know that Peggy is a beautiful woman," Daniel said, suddenly.

Jack was still wiping his hair with a towel, so he answered, "Yeah," before the contents of the words actually reached his brain. "Wait, what?" He looked over at the other man.

Daniel watched him steadily. "I'm just saying, I understand how ...feelings develop."

After a moment, Jack tilted his head back to laugh. 

"You don't trust me at all, do you."

"No," Daniel said, implacably. "But I do trust Peggy," he added calmly. "I don't want you to set yourself up to get hurt."

Jack stared after Daniel as he turned and strode out. No particular remark came to mind. It wasn't even that the thought had never crossed his mind. He _had_ something with Peggy, something that the adrenaline on the course had put into a sharp relief. But it wasn't quite her body he wanted ― although what a body, his lips curved ― but the sharpness of her quicksilver mind and the steadiness of her heart. Jack liked himself better when he was with her.

And there was no price on that.


	2. Chapter 2

The final portion of training was a field test. They gathered the team and laid out the instructions: to follow the law and the SSR Agent's guidelines.

"We will be evaluating your judgment out in the field on a real mission," Daniel announced. "Afterward we will hold a review of your performance and your final evaluation. Do your best." Then he handed each of the four recruits a manila folder with the mission details. "You have an hour to get changed and meet us in the briefing room A. We are raiding a drug smuggling operation whose funds are being used by foreign agents in our country to finance their work." Jack, Peggy and Daniel had their own folders with mission details, but theirs were quite different.

Once the recruits yessired and scampered off, Daniel turned to Peggy. "Did you bring the blood bags?" 

In answer, she tapped the heel of her shoe against the innocuous briefcase sitting against the desk table. "I've talked to Dr. Samberly as well. He's aware of the situation. Here are the blanks." Howard's movie set was proving to be all sorts of useful.

"Good. Let's get this crazy show on the road."

They drove up to the warehouse indicated in the mission briefing in a truck with Peggy at the wheel, while Jack and Daniel sat with the four recruits. Wells was bouncing his knees, visibly nervous. Pearson and Martinez sat staring straight ahead. Their previous military training gave them the confidence to keep calm, or at least the poker face to look that way. Ashton was sitting with his eyes closed, looking bored with the whole thing, still not taking it seriously. Jack put a mental question mark next to his fitness as an SSR Agent. Not everyone made it, but maybe the guy just needed a real mission to sink his teeth into. Jack pulled his lips together to stop a smile threatening to spread across his face at the thought of what Daniel, Peggy and him had planned. When the truck came to a stop, he caught Daniel's eyes. It was time to get this circus on the road.

The mission was carefully orchestrated to adhere to typical parameters. A raid with some enemy personnel protecting the cargo, boxes marked with a red marker. In the mission briefing, the drug was described as some kind of a hallucinogen previously unknown to science, but with fascinating properties, which is why the SSR was involved. They had had to bribe Dr. Samberly with Rose's cooking to concoct some sciencey-sounding sentences to pass muster with Wells and Ashton. The objective was to confiscate all of the material if possible, grab samples otherwise.

They piled out of the truck. Peggy had it parked a block away on an abandoned street. It was lunch hour, but not a soul was out on the streets. Jack could see the trainees looking around, assessing the situation. He could see them wonder at the lack of people. In fact, this location was picked exactly for its distance from any civilians. Jack knew they had to keep the trainees focused on the mission, not giving them a lot of time to really think things through and start to wonder. 

"Everyone clear on the mission's objectives?" Daniel kept the men focused on him. He was wearing standard tactical gear like everyone else, but he carried himself like the leader of this operation. Every order today had been given by him, with Peggy assuming a second-in-command position and Jack fading into the background for the time being. He was still sitting back in the trunk, handling the ammo and secretly switching the real cartridges with blanks.

The four men in front of Daniel nodded.

"We go in. We extract the two crates. We expect there to be minimal resistance. If you see enemy personnel your job is to diffuse the situation. If that isn't possible, shoot to disable, not to kill. Is that understood?"

They nodded again.

"Here ya go." Jack handed them their weapons one at a time, before jumping out with a shotgun against his shoulder. "Do you want me on point?"

"No, I'll go in first, you and Peggy bring up the rear. Martinez, you're behind me. The rest of you spread out and cover the corners of the building. Make sure nobody interrupts our entry." They trotted off to the warehouse.

At the door, Daniel kept watch with his gun out, while Martinez used a lock-pick to unlock the single door facing this side. After they heard the tell-tale click, Martinez fell back and Daniel unlocked the door, his gun at the ready.

They filed inside, Peggy and Jack sliding off to the sides, looking across the large floor of the warehouse. It was filled with wooden crates about two stories high, piled in similar configurations all across the floor. There were some trolleys off to the side.

Daniel turned to face his men, his back to the darkness inside the warehouse. "Looks like we're in luck, there is nobody here." He started to smile when the first gunshots sounded.

The men scattered like beans across the floor, finding cover behind the crates. Peggy dove for Daniel, who slumped down on the floor. She dragged him behind one of the crates with her by the lapels of his shirt, and bent over him.

"Is he hit?" Jack screamed from his own cover position.

"Daniel!" Peggy screamed instead, presenting the very picture of a hysterical girlfriend. When she lifted her hands up they could all see they were covered in blood. 

"Stay down and lay down cover fire!" Jack barked at the new recruits, who watched wide eyed. The scientists looked terrified, while Pearson and Martinez sprang into action, peaking out from behind the crates and firing into the darkness of the warehouse. Jack scrambled over to where Peggy was sitting over Daniel's prone body.

"He's dead," she said, just loudly enough to be heard by the others. Jack pretended to take Daniel's pulse and his own hand too came away wet with pigs blood.

"Do we abort the mission?"

"No!" Peggy suddenly jumped up and started firing over the crates like a woman possessed. There was no return fire. "I'm going after them!" And she sprinted forward, disappearing behind a corner before Jack could stop her. He turned to the recruits.

"Wells, radio for help. We are going after Agent Carter. Once we retrieve her we fall back. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do we leave Chief Sousa here?" Ashton finally looked like he'd woken up. He was staring at the blood spreading under Daniel's body in horror.

"Believe me, he's not going anywhere," Jack said grimly.

"Radio's not working," Wells reported. "Something is blocking our communication."

"Damn it, I was afraid of that." Jack looked into the warehouse. "It looks like they knew we were coming."

"What does that mean?" 

"That means someone inside the SSR warned them about the raid, what do you think it means?" Ashton screamed at Martinez. The rest looked shell-shocked.

"Shut up, and follow my orders if you'd like to get out of this alive," Jack said. "We are on our own. On three."

Keeping them from examining Daniel's prone form meant he had to throw them one curve after another and take them after Carter pronto. He fired several shots into the darkness of the warehouse then motioned for them to follow.

They heard distant gunfire up ahead and then Peggy's scream.

"Oh God," Pearson said, but he only clutched his weapon harder and looked more determined. 

"We should abort," Martinez said. "Come back with reinforcements."

"And how will you explain losing your commanding officer?" Jack barked. "You think they'll pin a medal on you for that? We are going after the mission objective, Private, and that's final."

"We need to rescue Agent Carter!" Pearson added fervently. Jack was starting to suspect he had a bit of a crush going.

"Yes, let's go rescue Carter." Jack thought he could see her in his mind's eye, wincing even as he spoke. He had to hide a smile.

"She shouldn't have run off on her own," Wells said. "Not after all those speeches about teamwork." He was soundly ignored as all of them made their way, except for Jack saying quietly,

"What we'd like to be true and real life are often two different things."

They found Carter against one of the marked crates, taking shuddering breaths and pressing a blood-soaked handkerchief to her calf. "I took out several of them," she panted, looking to be in pain.

"Carter? How bad is it?" Jack crouched in front of her while Martinez and Wells took guard positions around them. Pearson and Ashton hovered nearby. 

She winced. "I lost some blood. The bullet is still inside. I'll be alright."

He shielded her leg from the other men with his body as he quickly took out the field kit and replaced her own hands with a bandage, wrapping up the leg quickly, hiding the supposed injury from view.

"Can you walk?"

"I don't think so." She looked back towards the entrance where they knew Daniel lay face down. Her face twisted, and she grabbed Jack by the elbow, imploring. "Go. Get help. I'll be alright here."

"Absolutely not," Jack said. "You'll be easy pickings for whoever is still traipsing around."

"We can't leave all this evidence. If we come back and it's gone, how do you plan to explain that?" Peggy drew the automatic gun across her lap, towards her chest. "I can take care of myself." She turned to the trainees. "Your new orders are to head back to get reinforcements as soon as possible. Make sure Daniel didn't die in vain―" Her voice caught convincingly on those words. 

Jack suddenly wondered if she wasn't having more trouble than she let on, playing her role of a bereaved woman. After all, there were certain experiences that stayed with you long after you had tried to move on. Carter pulled through though, she always did. She turned to Jack, a commander's mask on. "With Chief Sousa down, I'm the acting Chief on this mission, I've got the authority to give the orders and you follow them. I've got jurisdiction, Jack, you're technically off duty."

He stood up reluctantly, looking at the other men, who shuffled uncertainly.

"No can do, ma'am." It was Pearson, his voice one expecting a reprimand but certain of his course. "No one gets left behind."

Pearson crouched down in front of her with his back to her, hands spread out so she could climb on easily. "I can carry Agent Carter on my back."

Well what do you know? Pearson was a team-player after all.

Peggy sighed and looked to hesitate but relented. As Peggy clambered on the man's back for the carry, Jack caught her eyes, a small smirk playing on his face. She rolled her eyes a little, but he could tell she was as pleased as he was. 

Wells and Ashton grabbed one of the crates Carter had been leaning on, Jack and Martinez went to grab the other, bringing up the rear. There was nobody left to watch their backs. Jack stopped Martinez. 

"I'll stay behind with the second crate," he said. "Get Carter out. I'll cover your backs. Come back for the second crate as a team."

"But the evidence...?"

"Your lives are more important," Jack said. "Go."

Martinez looked reluctant but he ran to join the others.

All those drills lugging around sandbags paid off and the scientists made just as good a time as the soldiers. 

When they faded from view, Jack lowered his rifle and smiled, hopping to sit on top of the crate. Rose came out from the shadows, holding her own shot-gun.

"Nice job playing the bad guy." Jack grinned. 

"I knew all those hours at the theatrical agency would pay off," Rose said, smiling back.

"Though you didn't have to squeeze off multiple shots," Daniel came back around the same way Rose had done. He must have circled the building while they were looking for Carter and came in the back-way. "I'll have bruises everywhere," Daniel rubbed the back of his neck gingerly.

"Have Peggy kiss them better," Jack said, and enjoyed the blush visible even in the semi-darkness.

"Peggy should be fainting from blood loss right about now," Daniel said looking at the watch on his arm.

"We'd better hide this," Rose indicated the crate Jack was sitting on. "Those boys are bound to come running back any minute."

"No rest for the wicked." Jack easily hopped off the crate. They erased the red marker replacing it with a different squiggle in white paint, and dragged the crate to the back where it would be out of view. "You better hide," he told the two of them, "This is not a trio or a duet."

"Try not to enjoy yourself too much," Daniel said.

Jack lay down on the ground, on his side, where he was supposed to be found by the recruits when they came back. "Does this look convincing?" he wondered.

"A little too much so," Daniel said. Jack thought about the somber note in his voice while he waited for the action to begin.

Pearson had a distinctive gait when he walked. Jack heard them from a ways off and closed his eyes, letting his mouth fall slightly open. When they reached the alcove he was lying in, their gates changed and they ran towards him. Martinez and Wells on each side, shouting, "Chief Thompson?"

"Huh?" Jack pretended to be dazed. "Wha―? What happened?"

"We found you just lying here," Wells explained, "Did they knock you out?"

"Thank god you're not dead!" Ashton put in, which was nice of him.

"Where's Carter?" Jack sat up, wincing. The floor had been cold and he had the start of a cramp in one arm from lying so still without moving. He shook it out while they talked all over each other to explain. Peggy had fainted in the truck, where they left her and came back for him. The radios still weren't working, but they thought if they could get the second crate of materials with them and Jack, they were set.

"Yeah, where is it?" Jack looked around.

"It's gone." Martinez said. "They must have taken it while you were out."

"Damn it," Jack said. "That's not going to look good on the report."

He let Martinez help him up from the floor, wincing all the way. Really, they should give him an Oscar, Jack thought. 

"We could search the place," Pearson suggested. 

"There must have been at least two of them, to carry the crate," Martinez said, "We'd better fall back, then discuss our options."

Jack pretended to be too dazed to offer an informative reply. They took the lead from Martinez and walked out, Pearson bringing up the rear watching their backs.

At the trunk, Jack gave a droll look to Peggy, lying on one of the benches seemingly unconscious. The blanket thrown over her lower half was an adorable gesture. Pearson, if Jack had to guess.

Jack leaned back against the trunk's wall and closed his eyes. "So we lost the material."

"We have one of the crates," Wells put in, "Enough to analyze whatever's inside."

"We know what's inside," Jack said, annoyed, "A drug that makes people go crazy. Do you think it'll look good on our report that we let a whole crate of it slip through our fingers? The SSR doesn't accept that kind of shoddy work."

"What else could we do?"

Jack looked up at Martinez. "We don't have to let anyone know." He said, as though the idea just came to him. "In fact...wasn't there only a single crate?"

The looks of bewildered shock crossed each of their faces.

"That's right, boys, keep up." Jack said, standing up and pacing back and forth. "There was a single crate and we brought it back for evidence. Nobody's the wiser. Isn't that right?" They looked reluctant but he knew he had them. Nobody wanted their first mission out in the field to come back a failure, not when he offered them such an easy way out.

"But...Agent Carter saw that there were two crates?" Wells put in.

Jack looked at Carter's prone form in annoyance.

He made his voice cold. "I'll take care of Carter."

"You're gonna _kill_ her?" Pearson said aghast.

"What? No," Jack's lips twisted. "That would be wrong from both strategic and moral standpoint." He hoped Vernon Masters was rolling in his grave, or wherever he was. "I've got just the thing."

He went to his backpack and riffled through it, pulling out the glowing device to the nearby bench.

"Do you know what this is?"

"The memory inhibitor," Wells said, a look of revulsion crossing his face. "Dr. Samberly has that locked in the lab, how did you get a hold of it?"

"Dr. Samberly knows how to follows orders from a superior officer," Jack said. "This device will erase Carter's memory of what happened in the warehouse. She's already injured, she'll think she had a concussion as well."

"Use the memory device on Miss Carter?" Pearson didn't sound happy. "But won't that mess with her head?"

"That's the point," Jack looked at him like he was stupid. "Try to keep up, man. We can't let Carter talk. It's our word against hers."

"Couldn't we just...explain?" Ashton said.

"That we lost a hallucinogenic drug that could tear the whole city apart?" Jack said, "How would you like to explain that? Especially in this political climate! Everyone's dying to find someone to blame. Do you honestly think anyone will listen to you?" Jack said, the anger in his voice making Ashton step back. "Look around. Chief Sousa is dead and he was last seen with you. I'd like you to see you explain yourself from the interrogation rooms, as a suspected Communist spy."

"But Chief Thompson―"

"Make no mistake, you will lose your jobs over this."

"But you were there," Martinez cried out, "You'll vouch for us, won't you?"

"Put my career on the line for you?" Jack laughed. "What kind of an idiot do you take me for!" He turned his back to them, pointedly ignoring the weapons they were carrying. A shiver run up his spine, but he squashed it down. He picked up the memory inhibitor. "Peggy Carter isn't going to stand between me and what I deserve." He turned back around, the glow of the memory inhibitor shining from each hand. "Stand aside."

They moved, letting him see Peggy, lying unmoving, her face calm and peaceful. 

"This won't hurt," Jack said. "What are you standing around for?" he barked over his shoulder. "You've got your jobs to do."

"Yes...we do..." Martinez said.

"What was that?" Jack picked up the different note in Martinez' voice.

"We've got our jobs to do. Step away from Agent Carter, Chief Thompson."

"What did you say?" Jack's voice was threatening as he slowly turned around. His eyes widened at the pistol directed at him.

"Hands in the air!" Martinez said.

"Hey, man..." Ashton started, looking nervously between Peggy, Jack and Martinez. 

"Shut up," Martinez said. "Protocol dictates we contain the threat. Right now, that looks to be Chief Thompson who is planning to use an illegal memory device on one of the SSR Agents." He motioned with a gun. "Drop the device, Chief."

Jack let the memory inhibitor clatter to the floor, where it continued to glow maliciously.

"Hands in the air." Martinez repeated.

Jack slowly lifted his hands. "Be sure you know what you're doing, Private."

"I'm doing what needs to be done." Martinez handed Pearson the cuffs from his belt. "Cuff him."

"You are making the biggest mistake of your life." Jack said. "Say goodbye to this job you wanted if you do this." He put on a smile, "Come on. Think! Let me speak to the brass on your behalf. You know I've got connections. I'll forget any of this ever happened, just lower your gun and let me help you."

"No can do," Pearson said, and he too, lifted his weapon. "I think you're right Marty. I think we should follow the law on this one."

"Are you kidding me? The law?" Jack laughed. "The four of you must have sunstroke." He shook his head, as though despairing. "You two support these yahoos? You're gonna let them ruin your careers?" He looked to Ashton and Wells.

"Yeah," Wells said with a wince. He looked down at the memory inhibitor, looking sick. "Doing something like that to an enemy is one thing. But to someone you've known for a while, one of your fellow agents, someone on your team...?" Wells' eyes burned with anger. "I didn't sign up for that." Pearson and Martinez nodded in unison, disgust etching their expressions.

Ashton just sort of shuffled behind the three of them, his stance a physical show of support.

Jack smiled his first real smile today. "Am I glad to hear that."

"Thank you, gentlemen," Peggy sat up in her seat, to a surprised, "Hey!" from the others. "Jack, we've got to work on your bandaging skills. I'm starting to lose the feeling in my leg." She stretched the limb out, before bending over it to work on untying the tight bandage knots.

"Lower your weapons, men," Jack called out over his shoulder. "You're done here." He went to help Carter.

"Oh my god," Wells got it first. There was a reason he was a scientist after all, he put all the evidence together. "You guys played us. You staged the whole thing."

Jack helped free Peggy from the bandage. Martinez and Pearson lowered their weapons, looking uncertainly between Peggy and Jack, now working comfortably side-by-side and Wells, gaping at them.

Daniel walked up to the truck from behind the corner, a little contained smile on his face. The cries of "Chief Sousa!" went up around the room. It was good to see these guys swarm around Daniel, happy and relieved he was alive.

"You were very convincing," Peggy said quietly, as they finally got the bandage off her leg so she could stand.

Jack looked at her. He thought he had been. She didn't mean it as a rebuke, he knew, but it said something about him that he was at his most convincing playing her foil. He was so good at it, it almost wasn't playing a role. The arguments had come to him naturally. Too bad what came easily wasn't always worth it.  


 

* * *

 

"To the most unorthodox training mission in the SSR's history."

The three of them clinked their glasses. They drank with smiles on their faces. Jack still couldn't believe Daniel had let Peggy talk him into running that final test, but then he supposed when Peggy wanted something she almost always got it. Knowing that fact only made his own position more awkward.

The thought of leaving for New York now filled Jack with reluctance. Even the consideration of not being daily subjected to Californian food seem to make no difference in his feelings on the matter. Peggy's training exercises had been successful at integrating him into their team, even if he hadn't noticed it happening. The damnest thing was, he felt like he belonged here. These people knew him. Peggy knew him in a way that he hadn't let anyone see since before Okinawa. Jack wondered if that had been her plan all along. If she'd been testing him, too.

He wanted to be angry at the manipulation but despite him the thought filled him with a strange kind of warmth. It was nice to be wanted. 

"I'm almost proud of these new guys, standing up for doing the right thing like that," he said, squinting off into the setting sun out on a patio at the Stark mansion. Howard was elsewhere entertaining an actress, and Peggy continued to use the mansion as a mission central of sorts. The Jarvises had left the three SSR agents to their celebration and retired for the evening to their own rooms. Jack played with his glass, swirling the liquor in it. "Not sure I could have done it. My first job out of the academy, all I could say to my superiors was 'yes sir', 'thank you sir'."

"And this is different from the later Jack Thompson how exactly...?" Daniel needled. 

Jack shot him a chagrined look.

"It's hard, going against what you know," Peggy said with a calming voice. "Against what you are used to." Her hand moved, and Jack was somehow certain without even seeing it that she was squeezing Daniel's hand under the table. 

They sat in silence for a long moment. 

"Did you know my father and Vernon Masters were buddies since college?" Jack said, still not looking away from the sunset. The sun was easier to look at than their faces.

For a long moment they didn't reply so he went on talking.

"They went through the first War together. They were like this." He put out two fingers, entwined. "After the last war Pops phoned Uncle Vernon and then I had the job at the SSR. Just like that."

"We discovered the list of Vernon Master's closest contacts in the course of our investigation," Peggy's voice was so gentle. "Do you think your father is involved with this?"

Jack shrugged. He couldn't meet her eyes. 

"I'd like to think he didn't hire the hitman." After that he had to set the drink down, his hands were shaking again.

"Oh, I doubt he did that, Jack." Again that soft voice. Daniel was silent, but he didn't have to say a thing. They all knew what it meant to be involved with the Arena Club. If Jack's father was in it, he was in it deep.

"Guess I'll find out eventually." Jack finally gathered the courage to look Peggy in the face.

" _We_ will," she nodded. "We'll bring them down."

"So you've decided you trust me now?"

She looked down at the ground, and lifted a briefcase with one hand. From it, she withdrew several thick manila folders and slid them across the table. They were completely unmarked, no SSR logo in sight. Jack lifted an eyebrow.

"Chief Thompson, if you'd like to familiarize yourself with the results of the investigation Chief Sousa and I are conducting in private, here is what we have so far."

Jack thought about it for a long moment before he slid his thumb across the surface of the top folder, smoothing it out. His heart beat madly in his chest. "How high up does it go?" he asked. "DC?"

She nodded.

Jack looked at Daniel as the sane man here. Peggy was the rebel, you could trust her to take an idea and carry it to its eventual conclusion, but Daniel was the one who had the level head to stop before you jumped in with both feet. There was probably a bad joke there that Jack wasn't in the mood for exploring.

Daniel said seriously, "If you're interested, we'd welcome your help. But this isn't the kind of decision one goes back on."

"You want help with your _private_ investigation? Outside the SSR?" Jack said. "Who else knows about this?"

"You make three."

Jack looked down at the folders in his hands again. He knew if he opened it, that was him jumping in with both feet. There would be no take-backs.

"Sounds like spying on spies and ruffling some pretty powerful feathers." Jack thought about it a little. "Stark will provide the financial backing, of course." Peggy nodded.

"Have you thought about the name for this little operation yet?" 

"Not yet," Peggy smiled. "But I think it's important that we do this. Do you agree?"

Since he walked up to Vernon Masters trying to steal the uranium rods, Jack had been ready to go it alone. He was glad he didn't have to.

His answer was simple. Jack opened the top folder and began to read.  


 

* * *

 

**Fin.**


End file.
